A laboratory that will position the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University to be a leader nationally in geochronology, environmental and climate-change research will be dedicated and formally opened Saturday (May 3). The facility, the R. Ken Williams ’45 Radiogenic Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, bears the name of the Midland oilman who has committed more than $2 million to making it a reality.

After 61 members of the Texas A&M Foundation’s Legacy Society tour the lab at 10:45 a.m. Saturday morning, Dr. Björn Kjerfve, dean of the College of Geosciences, will dedicate it in an 11:30 a.m. ceremony in the name of R. Ken Williams, Class of 1945. In addition to having committed over $2 million to the project, Williams continues to contribute annually to its endowment. He and his family will attend the dedication, as will principal faculty members from the College of Geosciences associated with the lab.

Construction of the R. Ken Williams ’45 Radiogenic Isotope Geosciences Laboratory began last October, but the project has been in the planning phase for over four years. The facility will be used for interdisciplinary research and collaboration by multiple departments in the College of Geosciences, across the university and potentially worldwide, officials note.

According to Dr. Ethan Grossman, acting executive associate dean and associate dean for research, the lab will position the College of Geosciences to be a leader in geochronology, environmental and climate change research. “The size and scope of this effort puts us on par with some of the best isotope geochemistry programs in the country,” Grossman said.

"It is our goal to make graduate and undergraduate education an indispensable part of the lab,” Grossman added. “This truly state-of-the-art facility will attract outstanding faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students to the College."

The new facility contains clean and ultra clean chemistry laboratories categorized as class 1000 and class 100 respectively, a mass spectrometry lab, a sample preparation lab, a work room and technician’s office, and two faculty offices.

The chemistry laboratories allow contamination-free chemical preparation of samples for analyses of heavy isotopes. The mass spectrometry lab houses a new Thermo Scientific Triton thermal ionization mass spectrometer with space to accommodate two additional instruments – a high-resolution, inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer with a laser ablation system (proposal pending) and a multi-collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer.

This lab will enhance and diversify the current research plans of several principal investigators and will benefit the future research of at least 10 faculty members in five different departments and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. The facility is designed for use by three or more principal investigators with at least five or six students working in the lab, and it can accommodate at least five or six other faculty for occasional use.

Lab instrumentation will serve the research needs of a broad range of disciplines, including tectonics, geochronology, paleoceanography, climate change and environmental geochemistry.

The principal investigators currently associated with the lab are Drs. Franco Marcantonio, associate professor in the Geology & Geophysics Department; Brent Miller, assistant professor in that same department; and Debbie Thomas, assistant professor in the Oceanography Department. They will oversee lab operations, maintenance, training and safety.